1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a component of semiconductor material deposited by epitaxial growth on a substrate having a different lattice parameter (lattice constant). The invention is also concerned with the application of said material to a wide range of semiconductor components such as diodes, photoresistors, integrated optical waveguides, optical isolators, optical circulators, magnetic detectors.
The invention is applicable in particular to a component of III-V compound material implanted into a substrate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The fabrication of a component of this type is often difficult in practice since it is necessary to choose semiconductor material having a lattice parameter which is matched with the lattice parameter of the substrate. Thus the lattice parameter of a substrate of gadolinium-gallium garnet and having a value of 12.383 .ANG.ngstroms is totally mismatched with respect to known semiconductor materials. In the field of light emitting and receiving diodes, French patent application No. 84 18928 filed on Dec. 11th, 1984 offered a solution by proposing by way of example a semiconductor material composition having a base of gallium, indium, aluminum and antimony (GaInAlSb) in which the lattice parameter of 6.19 .ANG.ngstroms is substantially adjusted to one-half the lattice parameter of the gadolinium-gallium garnet.
However, adjustment of the lattice parameters to a multiple or a sub-multiple of the substrate lattice parameter calls for highly accurate dosing of the different metal-organic compounds employed. Furthermore, this dosing operation presupposes that the material has non-tailorable properties, that is, predetermined characteristics which could be determining factors in regard to the field of application.
The invention provides a component which is easier to produce and accordingly overcomes the disadvantages just mentioned.
To this end, the invention employs a known method of epitaxial growth of a succession of layers. This method calls for the use of a recent epitaxial growth technique of vapor-phase epitaxy known as metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The succession of layers obtained by means of this method is known as a superlattice and is described in the article entitled "Growth and characterization of GaInAsInP heterojunction and quantum-well structures obtained by MOCVD" by Manijeh Razeghi, published in the Thomson-CSF Technical Review (Revue Technique), Vol. 16--No. 1--March 1984, pages 5 to 27, as well as in Chapter 5 entitled "Low-pressure metallo-organic chemical vapor deposition of Ga.sub.x Inb.sub.1-x As.sub.y P.sub.1-y alloys" by Manijeh Razeghi (paragraph IV, pages 317 to 345) published in the work entitled .-+.Semiconductors and semimetals", Vol. 22, part A by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
The component obtained has the advantage of remaining undisturbed by any faults arising from dislocations at the component-substrate interface and is provided in the form of a single crystal.